Archive for category Jinny
The Weekend
Posted by Jinny in Jinny, Our Family on May 5, 2008
It was a crazy weekend, and I haven’t quite recovered yet. It’s 11:15p.m. on Monday, and we are just now getting wound down from the day. I always have great plans for routines and getting to bed early. But you know what they say about intentions… they are a great starting point, right?
Friday was the Father & Son camp out for our ward. Helaman and Omar were supposed to go, but by the time Friday afternoon came around Helaman only wanted to camp in the yard, not far away. So, they had a private camp out here.
My friend Amanda was awesome enough to host a gathering for the girls while the boys were all gone.
It was nice to just be girly for a while. I stayed there way too late, but it was lots of fun. I really enjoy being around all those sweet mothers and learning how to do a better job myself.
Saturday morning, the birds woke Helaman up at 5:00a.m., and he never made it back to sleep. It was a tough day trying to keep that tired boy from breaking down. We tried several times to get him to nap, but he has an amazing ability to keep himself awake, even lying in the dark, exhausted, for long periods of time.
By Sunday, poor tired boy was sick of course. He woke up at 5 again, this time with a high fever. Isaiah is teething and not feeling great anyway, and none of us made it to church. Our friend Stephanie had a concert with the Yuba Sutter Orchestra that afternoon. Helaman was feeling better, so we planned to go, but as I was getting him ready his fever came back. He was broken hearted about not going, so we went anyway. He says he enjoyed it, but he just laid on my lap for the whole thing.
Omar came home early from work today, worried about his sick kids, who, ironically, both woke up fine and have been happy as clams all day.
We had lunch with Tara and her nephews, and then went to Marysville to smog Fernando’s truck. That took a lot longer than it was supposed to, so we had lots of time to play in the park. Then we went to Jesse & Sandra’s house where Sandra fed us a delicious dinner and Omar tried to rid the computer of some awful malware.
And then home, late. Hopefully Helaman will get enough sleep to be happy at preschool tomorrow. I sure could use a good nights sleep, too. We’ll see. Maybe I should go to bed earlier. 
Hiking Feather Falls
Michael, Tara, & Ava had so much fun hiking Feather Falls last weekend, my mom and I and our friend Cynthia decided to give it a go. Omar volunteered to watch the boys, but because we were going to be gone so long I decided it was probably better to take Isaiah with me. Tara let me borrow her backpack, and we were on our way.
The hike was beautiful! I didn’t realize how lush the foothills really are. It reminded me a lot of Washington. There was even moss growing on the trees. There were lots of beautiful wildflowers (My mom had to stop and take pictures of each one) as well.
It felt good to go so much exercise and enjoy the nature. Some of the views are very awe-inspiring, and God is definitely in the mountains. I had a religion teacher at BYU say that God uses mountains when there is no temple available, and I believe it.
Isaiah was a really good boy for almost the whole hike. He slept a lot of the way in to the falls, and part of the way out. For the last 2.5 miles he was done being in the backpack, though. So grandma and I took turns carrying him the rest of the way out.
Cynthia, Mom, and I finally at the falls.
Isaiah being carried out the last few miles.
Today’s Funny Stories
Tara had this picture of Ava and her cousin on her blog. Isaiah loves to chew on Ava’s hands, so I left a comment about how Ava must have tasty hands because babies seems to like to eat them, or something silly like that. Especially silly since the baby in the picture was MY SON! She came over today and I asked her who the baby was in the picture.
In my defense, I still don’t think it looks like him. Ha ha ha, I guess that’s not much of a defense! What mother doesn’t recognize her own baby? Apparently, this one.
The other funny story of the day happened tonight at bedtime. When I was playing around with Helaman getting his pajamas on, he grabbed my hand and asked what my wedding ring was. I told him that it was my wedding ring and it meant that I was married to daddy.
He got his feelings hurt, and said, “Then how am I going to marry you?” (He’s been planning on that for a while now.) I told him I had some bad news about that, that because I had married daddy in the temple we would be married forever, so I wasn’t going to be able to marry him. “Then who am I going to marry?” he asked with great concern.
We started naming girls that he knows, and offering them as possible future brides. He responded with, “How about Greta.” I said that wasn’t going to work because she was his aunt, so he thought Avery would maybe be a good alternative. We named a couple of more girls, and then he snuggled up to me, laid his head on my shoulder, and said, “Or…how about, I will marry you?”
Who could resist such a proposal? Of course, I said o.k.
The end of the tunnel
Late last night I took the first step in closing my web design business. I emailed all my clients and let them known we were moving and I wouldn’t be doing this anymore. I still have a lot of work pending, and it will be a lot of work getting everyone moved over to there new designers, but we are definitely approaching the end of this particular tunnel.
In a way it was a huge relief. It was getting harder and harder to do the work I needed to and be the mommy I wanted to. It was hard to find the time, and emotional energy, and non-sleep deprived concentration. And then when I would start feeling overwhelmed, I would get stressed out and become mean mommy.
It’s also really sad. I have loved working with my clients, be creative and helping people build their organizations and businesses. I loved the interaction, and learning new things, and creating. I will miss all of that.
It was such a blessing for me to learn everything I have over the last few years. I really love design. I know it was the hand of the Lord that got me into it, what with my Sociology degree and all. It’s been a huge blessing for our family the last few years, too.
But, right now, being a mommy is the most important thing. Omar is working enough now, and full time soon, that we don’t need the money to survive. So we decided that it was time to let it go and let me focus on being nice mommy more often.
Times they are a-changing!
The Fruits
Posted by Jinny in Jinny, We Believe on April 22, 2008
An article in Meridian Magazine really got me thinking this morning. It started with:
When you consider Jesus’ comment, “By their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20), do you ever ask yourself, “What are the fruits of my life?” I do. I ask what fruits I want to bring forth. What fruits do I want to be known for?
The author had her answers to the questions, but it really made me think about mine. What are my motivations? What’s important to me? What do I want to accomplish? What do I want to be known for? My mind went to my family first, more specifically to my kids. At first I thought I want to be known for raising righteous sons to the Lord. But then I realized that I can’t really say that. While I can influence their righteous choices, my fruits can’t depend on their agency. I needed to rethink that idea. What could I accomplish?
- I want to love my children, and do my level best to teach them the gospel and make my home a place where they can feel the Spirit.
Articulating the goal makes me want to do so much better; to be more patient, and loving, to testify more, and to do more to keep the things that drive the Spirit away out of my home.
The second thing I thought of was my own Spiritual growth. The author of the article said the fruit she wanted was the peace of mind that comes from knowing the Savior. That is a wonderful thought. I kept thinking about all the things that go into that, and the time I want to spend every day getting to know him. I always have great plans for my personal scripture study, the hours I want to spend studying and praying. Somehow things don’t really seem to work that way. But something later in the article helped me articulate the fruit that I was thinking of.
- I want to always remember Him.
I know I already promise to do this, but life gets so busy, and it seems like I forget. When I remember to focus whatever I’m doing on Him, I do feel His peace in my life. I still need to work on training my mind to come back to Christ, to keep him in the forefront of my thoughts and heart all of the time. I know I can dedicate even the mundane details of my life to him, and find joy and peace in say, picking up with Helaman for the 500th time in a day. That’s the fruit I want. A life always focused on Him.
Thinking about the fruits as what I want to be known for really gave pause. When I’m being completely honest with myself, I want to be known for being smart and funny. I want to be known as a person who is reliable, and the person who gets things done. I want to be known for being cheerful and upbeat. For being brave. For being helpful. Perfect, actually, would be great. It’s hard to separate what is just being prideful, from what are really good goals. I know it’s all in my intent, to serve God or be cool myself, but it’s hard for me to tell.
I think what it really all comes down to in the end there’s a simple way to state what it is I want to be known for.
- I want to be known for being good.
Well, that’s a lot to think about….
Opening my mouth
Posted by Jinny in Jinny, We Believe on April 6, 2008
I’ve been feeling prompted to follow Elder Ballard’s invitation to open our mouths. So, here’s my first baby step; I’ve opened my mouth. Now the trick is actually saying something now that I’m standing here catching the wind with my mouth wide open. That will be the next step.
For now, the thing to do is go to sleep I think.